Hearts in Hand
by RedPigBluePig
Summary: Bella is in for an exciting summer at camp, and she kicks it off with a bang with a gorgeous stranger. How was she to know that he wasn't just passing through town? Edward, pro baseball player, has never met anyone like Red, and that's a good thing. How does he reconcile his confident, fiery Red with shy, awkward Bella? Well, they have the whole summer to figure it out.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi. So I had this scene kicking around in my head for a while and I absolutely had to write it down. Unsure if I'll continue now that I've got it out. If I do continue I can't promise regular updates but I like to hear what you think anyways. So enjoy, I guess. **

The tequila went down a lot smoother than it had on the first shot. The tartness of the lemon wedge hardly left a tingle on her tongue and the rind joined the growing pile to her right. Her hair flopped out of the messy bun she had thrown it into when she entered the sweltering heat of the bar, too heavy for the simple elastic to restrain. Bella pulled her hair off her damp neck and back up into a sloppy knot before waving the bartender over for another drink.

"It's a Wednesday night. Should I be worried about the amount of tequila you are consuming? People are only in here doing that when they've got problems the size of Texas." The bartender drawled out, but poured her another shot none the less.

"Tonight is my Friday night and I need all the liquid courage I can get." Bella tossed back the shot and wobbled on the bar stool as she shoved the lemon into her mouth.

"Let me guess, you just started work at the Hearts in Hand camp?" The bartender took her shot glass off the bar before returning to cutting lime wedges. Bella stared at him warily. She knew that in all the literature the sad heroine poured their heart out to the bartender and then a mysterious stranger appeared out of nowhere to help, but there was no way she was a word of her problems was crossing her lips.

"Yup," the 'p' popped of its own accord and Bella realized in some part of her mind that she was well on her way to being drunk, "you're looking at their newest counsellor."

"Well congrats. That place is great. You're in for a fun summer." He sent her a wink and Bella briefly considered asking to see his penis, but decided that would make any future outings to the bar too awkward. Better to choose a stranger. Someone who looked like they were from out of town.

When Bella had been looking for a job for the summer she wanted one that would bring her out of her shell. A summer camp counsellor seemed like a good option at the time and Bella had eagerly applied for the almost local Hearts in Hand camp. It was located at the foothills of the Olympic Mountains and the thought of waking up each morning to the sight of the sun cresting the top of the familiar pines caused her to accept the offer on the spot.

What she had not realized at the time was that it was a camp for children with Down's syndrome. Of course, the children who came to the camp were not the reason she was sitting in Southern Comfort drinking her weight in tequila. Bella was, in fact, looking forward to spending time with the children and was excited about the prospect of a challenging summer. No, what was causing her to drink was something that Alice, a fellow counsellor, had said.

Training happened over a two week period and Bella had been stunned to realize that part of her job required personal care. She did not have anything against helping the campers go to the bathroom, or with their Attends, it was just a fact of life; but when the head counsellor explained that while the male counsellors were only to give personal care to the male campers, the female counsellors may give care to either gender.

Bella's mouth had gone dry and her hands clammy. Alice, upon seeing all the colour drain out of Bella's face leant over and whispered 'It's okay, once you've seen one penis, you've seen them all.'

As if that was in any way comforting.

All of that lead to Bella sitting at the bar, trying to work up the courage to ask a complete stranger to drop his pants because there was absolutely no way that the first penis she was going to see would belong to a teenage boy.

Of course, that did not mean that she wanted it to belong to a trucker as old as her father, because the last glance around the bar had shown only those prospects. Bella scowled and knocked back another drink. She knew Forks was a small town, but was it really that hard to find a decent looking man who would show her his without her having to show him hers.

Of course, Bella could have always turned to the internet to find a specimen, but who knows what would turn up if she typed 'penis' into the search bar. Additionally she did not have her own computer at camp and would have to either borrow someone else's or use the camp computer, neither of which seemed like a good idea if she was going to use them to look at male genital.

Deciding on one last glance around the room, Bella swivelled on her stool and tried very hard not to fall off. Two old men in stained white tank tops mopped their heads with their discarded shirts in the corner by the jukebox. The group of boys by the window were new, and seemed to be about her age, but there were two problems with them; first that their jackets proudly proclaimed them to be local jocks and secondly that there was no way she was going to approach a group. At the bar two older men nursed scotches and joked with the bartender and exiting the bathroom was the bear of the cook at Hearts in Hand camp.

Bella eyed the bartender once again, considering, but ultimately both her sober and tipsy brains decided that it was a bad idea. Pulling bills out of her pocket Bella settled her tab and slid off her seat to exit the bar. Perhaps she could find some way to not look at penises all summer?

"Are you going to be alright? I bet I can find someone to walk you home if you need." The bartender called as Bella wobbled a bit on her first few steps. She waved him off though, as by the time she was halfway across the room she was more or less going in a straight line.

However, when she reached the door it swung open just as Bella went to push against it, causing her to lose her balance and tumble straight into a warm body. Strong hands wrapped around her upper arms, branding her with their heat.

When her eyes finally managed to focus they saw a broad expanse of chest covered by tight black cotton. Travelling upwards she found scruff that was from more than a five o'clock shadow and the brim of a baseball cap shading the man's eyes.

Bella, despite her father's numerous attempts, was not intrigued by sports and knew little about them. However, she did know enough to recognize that the logo on the man's hat was not that of the Seattle Mariners, the more or less local team.

Bella realized that the polite thing to do would probably be to apologize and move out of the man's way so that he could enter the bar, and had she been anything but numerous tequila shots in that is exactly what would have happened. As it was, Bella opened her mouth and let the words tumble out.

"You're not from around here are you?" It sounded like a pick up line, causing Bella to cringe.

"I-er-what?" His hand lifted up to scratch the back of his neck and Bella caught a glimpse of copper.

"I didn't mean that in the way it sounded. I mean, I did, but I don't want to sleep with you. Not that you aren't good enough to sleep with, it's just that I don't do that kind of thing. Or this kind of thing, really, but can I see your penis?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Their eyes finally locked and Bella sucked in a breath at the green of his that matched the trees she had grown so fond of since she had arrived.

"Oi! You're in or you're out but stop letting all the damn air conditioning out!" One of the older men shouted out. Bella hardly contained a snort that he considered two pathetic fans circulating the warm air in the bar air conditioning.

"Never mind. Forget it." Bella tried to get past by stepping right, but the stranger mirrored her. Together they did that awkward dance before he finally stepped backwards, allowing Bella to slip around him.

Bella stumbled on her next step, but managed to catch herself and carry on, berating herself quietly out loud about how stupid the entire plan had been. On the forth step her arms joined in, with gestures and one hit to the forehead before Bella realized that doing that only made the road blur more.

"Wait! Why?" His voice cut through her foggy thoughts like a hot knife through butter.

Bella turned around and forced her eyes to focus on his frame, standing just a couple of feet away and rubbing his hand against his neck.

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to see my dick?" Bella paused momentarily, wondering if he would have said yes had she said 'dick' instead of penis.'

"Because I've never seen one before?"

"And?" His eyebrow raised in a perfect arch. Bella wished she could do that.

"And by next week I'll be seeing one whether I like it or not and I wanted to choose who's my first and I didn't want to go on the internet because that's just weird and porn kind of scares me. Are you going to drop your pants or what?" Bella waited two heartbeats. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She turned to walk away once again but only made it a couple of steps before a hot hand wrapped around her wrist.

"What if mine is ugly? Or bent or some weird shit like that."

Bella blinked.

"They can be ugly?"

The man let out a soft curse and tugged his hat off so he could run his hand through his hair. Bella marvelled at the light reflecting off the bronze strands while he worried his cap in his hands. He muttered to himself but Bella did not bother to listen.

"Are you even old enough to be this drunk?" He was pacing now, which was starting to make Bella dizzy.

"For your information I am twenty-one years old. I'll be twenty-two at the end of the summer." Her bed was calling to her, and Bella was done with this guy wasting her time.

"Shit I can't believe I'm even considering this. You only want to look at it?" Bella nodded her head until the world spun. "Fine, but not here where everyone can see us." His hand wrapped around her wrist once again and Bella willingly allowed herself to be led behind the bar where a single lamp was buzzing with moths.

"Really? Oh gosh this is so exciting! I hope it's not weird for you, I mean I'm sure lots of women have seen your junk before but they were probably going to do other stuff to it. Which I'm not. I mean, it's not like you're not attractive it's just that-"

"Yeah, you don't do these types of things. I get it." The man smirked and began pulling at his belt. Bella's eyes went wide.

"Oh you're just going to...okay. That's okay, I can do this." Bella turned around and sucked in a few much needed breaths of fresh air.

"You alright, Red?" The sound of his button fly opening echoed in the night and Bella let out a squeak in reply.

"Shouldn't we intro-oh. Are they all that big?" Bella spun around just as the man was taking himself out of his pants, and stopped short.

His chuckle was a warm, rumbling sound and if Bella had not been so distracted by what was hanging out of his pants she would have wanted to press her ear against his chest and hear it again.

"Well, you certainly know how to inflate a man's ego, princess."

Bella did not even hear him. She was completely entranced with his crotch. She did not know what she expected, but what she saw definitely was not it. It was long, and thick and –"How does that even fit inside someone?" Bella clearly had no filter, but the man did not seem to mind.

"Oh believe me, it fits." His voice had a huskier quality and Bella thought she saw his penis twitch, but put it down as a trick of the mind.

Bella's hand was like the moth to the flame of his penis and before either of them knew what was happening her fingers were lightly trailing down his length and he was letting out a low groan. Bella marvelled at the organ under her fingers. The skin was soft on her fingertips but underneath was a steel rod.

"I thought you said you only wanted to look?" He gasped out as he fell back against the log wall of the bar. Unable to help herself, Bella had wrapped her hand around his penis until she was grasping it lightly, feeling the heat and power beneath her palm.

"Oh right. Sorry." Bella went to pull her hand away but he caught it with a growl.

"Don't you dare stop." His hand wrapped around hers wrapped around his dick and slowly began pumping up and down. Bella was entranced by the repetitive motion and kept her eyes down even as his hand fell away to tangle itself in her hair.

"Jesus Christ." He groaned again, letting his head fall back against the wall and thrusting his hips forward into her hand. Bella, fascinated by the moisture that appeared on her palm rubbed her hand over the head of his penis again, causing him to let out a hiss.

A second thrust dislodged his jeans just the smallest amount and Bella saw what was at the other end of his appendage. Her one hand stayed on his length, rubbing up and down and occasionally over the head while the other went to fondle his testicles. They were a heavy weight in her hand and the man let out a stream of expletives as she gently handled them.

"Fuck Red. Just a little harder, yeah like that." His words trailed off in a moan. Bella's hand had automatically tightened in response to his plea and her pace quickened in time with his thrusting hips. His hand gripped her hair harder, pulling Bella's head back a bit. Her eyes, for the first time since she had turned around, raised and found the man's face.

He was beautiful.

A strong jaw, a slightly crooked nose and long lashes resting against his cheeks, hiding the forest green eyes beneath. His cheekbones were high and his lips full and open as another moan escaped them. Bella wondered if he was always this beautiful or only in the throes of pleasure. When his eyes snapped open and locked with hers Bella knew that his appearance was not temporary.

Bella sucked in a breath and bit her lip but did not break eye contact. His hand cupped her face and his thumb reached over to gently pull her lower lip out of her mouth. In an uncharacteristic move Bella darted her tongue out to taste him.

"Oh fuck." He broke eye contact and his head fell back against the wall as Bella felt something hot hitting her t-shirt and hand. Looking down solved the mystery as to what it was.

Bella was shocked. How had this happened? Logically she knew _how_ it had happened but that still did not explain how she went from knocking back tequila like it was her job to giving a total stranger a hand job behind the bar.

"Red, that was incredible." Bella looked down at her hand and back up at the man.

"I just...and you just...I.." He chuckled and brushed a piece of hair off her face, leaning his forehead against hers.

"I'm Edward. What's your name, Red?" Bella was still in shock and his words were floating in one ear and out the other.

"I gotta go!" Bella turned tail and ran, leaving him there with his pants down and dick hanging out, calling after her in a husky post-orgasm voice that was doing things to Bella that it should not have.

Bella ran all the way down the street and surprisingly did not trip over anything. She brushed past the campfire and the call of her co-workers and made a beeline for her cabin. Her roommate was out and Bella hurriedly stripped off her t-shirt and hid the evidence of her sexual encounter under the bed to wash on her next laundry day.

Or should she wash it immediately? Would it stain? Bella hoped not because the adrenalin was draining out of her faster than those shots disappeared and she did not have the energy to soak the shirt right now. Bella decided that it would have to wait 'til morning, at least.

Once safely ensconced in her covers, Bella allowed herself to relive the events of the past half hour. A smile crept onto her face without permission and Bella felt strangely proud that she, of all people, could make a stranger climax like that. It was a much needed boost to her confidence.

_Now,_ Bella thought as she drifted off, _I can face the summer with nothing to worry about_.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Okay, so I said I wasn't sure if I was going to do more but I've decided I am, eventually. I'm about to enter a pretty stressful and busy time in my life but I'll try to keep updating as often and as close to every Saturday as possible. Hope you guys enjoy it!**

The morning started with a bang. Which, after playing one tequila, two tequila the night before, was possibly the worst thing that could have happened to Bella. The banging continued until someone in one of the other cabins dragged themselves out of bed to throw something at Emmett who was hitting the dinner gong with far too much gusto for a seven o'clock wake up call.

Angela, who must have come in sometime after Bella had passed out, groaned and buried herself under the covers in a futile attempt to fall back to sleep. Bella wished she could do the same, but the rumbling in her stomach suggested getting to the toilet as quickly as possible.

Bella stumbled her way into the adjoining bathroom, bumping into the door frame on the way which was bound to leave a bruise. However, when Bella got into the stall the only thing that came out of her mouth was spittle. She groaned. It was going to be one of those hangovers; the ones with a perpetual feeling of nausea but no action.

"That's what you get for drinking on a night before work. How much did you have anyways? You were completely zonked when I came in; you didn't even wake up when I stepped on your hand getting into my bunk." Angela spoke around her toothbrush, showing no sympathy at all.

This was Angela's third year at camp. She was genuinely a nice girl and Bella was glad to find that she was rooming with Angela rather than the tornado of Alice, but since a messy break up with her boyfriend two days into training she could not contain her bitterness and it spilt over onto everything.

"Too much. I lost count but there was a big pile of lemon peels." Bella reached for her mouthwash and gargled violently to wash away the taste of last night.

"At least you made it back here. Kudos to you for not doing anything stupid. This one year..." Angela launched into one of her many and frequent camp memories.

Bella nearly choked on her mouthwash as the memories of the stupid thing she had done last night assaulted her brain. Angela took it as agreement over whatever so and so had done and continued on, oblivious to Bella's internal freak out.

Last night she had asked a perfect stranger to show her his penis, and then like a complete hussy she had touched him and given him a hand job. Bella's stomach turned again and she only just made it to the toilet before losing the contents of her stomach.

"Ew." Angela wrinkled her nose, "That's gross and you better clean it up before the kids get here. I'm going to breakfast."

Bella wiped her mouth and flushed the mouthwash-tinted bile down the toilet before brushing her teeth and preparing for the day. She had taken Alice's advice and hidden her nice clothes at the bottom of her locker; anything at camp was liable to get painted, dirty or wet according to Alice and so Bella was stuck with old t-shirts from high school and a pair of shorts that her mother had bought her once upon a delusion.

Renee Higginbotham had never really grown up, which suited her profession perfectly; as a guide book writer it was her job to travel around the world staying in cheap hostels, trying out restaurants, and other touristy pursuits. Given that most of her daily interactions were with people half her age it was no wonder that Renee had no idea how to be a mother or responsible for anyone but herself. She lived out of a backpack, had no bank accounts and flew by the seat of her pants. When she fell pregnant it was any guess which of her boyfriends – she had one in each country – was the father, but only one felt the need to assert a claim, which is how Bella had come to grow up with Charlie Swan. Renee had stuck around for the first four years of Bella's life, but too soon the open road was calling to her and she was off with only a written apology left behind.

Life had continued, for both Bella and Charlie, as it always did until a few years later when Renee dropped back into their lives. To say Bella had been confused was an understatement. It took nearly another decade but finally they had grown used to her showing up whenever she felt like it, often bringing souvenirs from all manner of exotic places. The shorts Bella was wearing today were denim and colourfully printed with flowers and leaves that Renee had brought back from some tropical country and insisted were a perfect mix of modern and traditional clothing.

Bella, along with everyone else who saw them, disagreed.

But none the less, they were what Bella found herself wearing on the way to breakfast of her first true day of work. It was also her first hung over day of work, but Bella did not think that was something to be proud of. Following all of her co-workers into the dining hall, Bella was greeted by a far too enthusiastic Emmett serving breakfast in between singing into the handle of his serving spoon.

"Bumble Bee! I heard you had a wild night so look what I did!" He grabbed a plate from the counter behind him and shoved it into her hands. When Bella looked down she nearly dropped the plate in shock to see two green eyes staring back at her.

Two slices of kiwi were placed on a large pancake with a strawberry nose and large cantaloupe smile.

"I made it into a happy face!" Emmett looked so happy that Bella could not help but give him a weak smile in return as she turned to find a place to eat.

The food tasted like cardboard in her mouth, and Bella could not even bare to eat the vivid reminders of the man from the night before. _Edward_, she reminded herself. As if knowing his name made it any better what she had done.

The coordinators stood up to do a funny skit and present the announcements, but Bella paid little to no attention, just concentrated on keeping her breakfast down. After their presentation was over Bella joined the crowd disposing of their breakfast dishes and went off to find Angela, her buddy counsellor.

"Hey. I hope you're feeling better because the girls we have this week are going to be a handful. My cousin had them last year and was nearly in tears by the second day." Bella did not mind that the girls were going to be troublesome, she was just thankful that they were not boys.

"Okay then. They don't get here 'til nine thirty, right? So should we go decorate the cabin or assign beds or whatever?" Bella yawned.

"No. First we have to go over their files and then we can do that if we have time. If the last couple of years are any indication we won't because the Denali sisters are always early." Angela tossed half the files to Bella before finding them a spot to go through them together.

"Okay so first the Denali sisters. I'm not sure if they're actually related because they're all adopted but they are a pain. Kate doesn't like the noise while eating, Tanya is also autistic and Irina is just really moody. They all feed off each other's moods but it's better to keep them together than apart. Oh yeah, they were kind of boy crazy last year. Let's hope they grew out of that." Angela quickly flipped through the files in front of her before turning to Bella expectantly.

"Oh, right. Um we have Claire de Luca, this is her first year and she sometimes wets the bed. Oh and she can't swim." The picture accompanying the file was of a ten year old with coke bottle glasses and stringy reddish hair. Bella thought she looked adorable.

"I hate bed wetters. They make the cabin smell so gross. I hope it's nice this week so we can sleep with the windows open." Angela tossed the file away without even looking at the picture. Bella bit her lip to stop the harsh retort that it was exactly that attitude that caused the bed wetting in the first place. She did not know who Angela's ex-boyfriend was but at this point she really wished that he had not broke her heart.

"Okay, moving on. Maria Gerlend is also autistic and doesn't eat anything that's green. If she gets really angry she has a doll to play with that calms her down or you can sing the Beach Boys to her. She really likes swimming and canoeing." Bella read from the file.

"I remember her! She's so cute! I'm glad we have her in our group. Watch out though, last year she was a runner." Angela snatched the file and flicked to a picture dominated by wild curly black hair. Bella got a brief glimpse before the next file was also taken from her hands.

"And last but not least we have...oh, Kristie. I had her last year. She's probably the highest functioning camper but she's really clingy. Oh and she's allergic to bee stings so she'll have an EpiPen, we'll talk to Rosalie about that." Bella nodded, still processing everything as Angela was packing things up and getting ready to go. Bella was glad to see that Angela's mood was improving. Perhaps the campers would help her to forget about her no good ex.

Perhaps the campers would help Bella to forget about a certain green eyed man.

Bella and Angela only managed to draw name tags to assign the beds before they were informed that the Denali sisters had arrived, early as usual. Bella's heart began to thump a little faster and her palms got sweaty. The walk across the open central field to the car park felt like it went by too quickly and all too soon Bella was standing in front of a large black SUV waiting to meet her first campers.

Three crying blondes jumped out of the car.

"Mom Tanya bit me!"

"She touched my nose!"

"Loud. Loud. Loud. Loud."

One girl had her hand clamped over her ears and was trying to walk away but her eyes were closed and she walked right into the side of the car. Another had her arms crossed and head down but occasionally swatted her arm in front of her face. The third was crying melodramatically and clutching at the shirt of an exasperated woman.

Bella understood why Angela's cousin had been in tears.

The remainder of the day passed in a blur and before Bella knew it she was sitting outside the cabin twelve hour later listening to the soft snores of her girls and filling out paperwork. Angela, who had gone to get them teas, had disappeared and left Bella to do all the work herself, making her grumble as she filled pages with chicken scratch.

"Oh my _gosh_!" Angela whisper yelled as she raced across the grass, no teas in sight, "You won't believe what just happened!"

"You went to get us tea but somehow stepped into an alternate dimension and were kidnapped by Ewoks and they took you to their leader and you only made it out of there alive because they thought tea was a drink of the gods?" Bella put down the pen and rotated her wrist a couple of times.

Angela was silent. Bella looked up just in time to catch her open her mouth to start to speak before closing it without any sound coming out. Angela settled for an incredulous look.

"Well you didn't come back with any tea so I figured something like that must have happened."

"Oh the tea! Right, sorry, I forgot. But when you hear what happened you'll totally forgive me."

"Only if you totally do your half of the paperwork." Bella shoved the papers towards Angela.

"Fine, fine. I _did_ start to get our teas but then this guy walked in and, oh my gosh, he was _so_ cute! So obviously I didn't get the hot water I followed him –"

"Obviously." Bella snorted.

"Anyway, so it turns out that he's the manager of the baseball guy that's going to be coming here at the end of the week."

"Baseball guy?" Bella's forehead crinkled.

"Don't you listen to anything, Bella? At breakfast? Oh, well there's this baseball player, everyone calls him Telly, and he's coming to spend time at camp this summer and he's going to get here on Sunday. But back to my story. So the cute guy is the baseball guy's manager person and he's here a couple of days early to get things organized and he saw me and asked if I could show him around!" Angela let out a squeal of glee and looked at Bella expectantly.

"That's it?" Bella blurted out under Angela's intense gaze.

"What do you mean 'that's it'?" The look had turned to a huffy glare.

"Well, I mean, he probably would have asked anyone he saw that. Right?" Angela's face fell and Bella could tell that she had just put her foot in her mouth again.

"You're right," Angela sighed out, "why would this hot shot manager look at boring old me. Eric was right, I _am_ boring and plain and unlovable!" Angela dropped her head into her arms and began letting out quiet crocodile tears.

Bella's eyes widened as she observed the crying girl, trying to figure out how they had gone from happy to angry to crying in a matter of seconds. She also had to figure out what to do now with her sobbing friend.

"Er, there, there. It's fine. Eric is an ass who didn't deserve you if he doesn't see how beautiful you are. And you just spent today making shaving cream water balloon bombs. That's definitely not boring. And there's a cabin of girls behind us who love you already. Don't cry." Bella awkwardly patted Angela's back until the girl threw herself into Bella's arms and began to soak her t-shirt.

By the time the sobs finished the paperwork was crumpled between them on Angela's lap and Bella's shirt was holding an extra pound of tears. Bella's hand had run up and down Angela's back so many times it was feeling desensitized and there was a pebble digging into the back of her thigh but this was something that Angela needed to get out and so Bella stayed firm until Angela broke their embrace.

"Sorry, I guess it all just hit me." Angela wiped away the last of her tears and blew her nose on the sleeve of her t-shirt.

"No, it's okay. Sometimes it's better to get these things out. Bottling things up is never good."

"Thanks. I haven't been that nice to you in the last couple of weeks so really, thanks." Angela offered a watery smile, which Bella returned full heartedly.

"No problem. Let's get these papers done and then grab a cup of tea or something. And then, if you're really serious about this guy and not just because he looks cute, then we can maybe work on getting him to notice you. I'm pretty useless at those things but I'm sure we can figure it out, right?" Bella winced mentally as her mind bombarded her with images of stroking Edward's penis and how suave she had been trying to get his attention.

"Really? You mean it?" Angela visibly brightened, and Bella hoped that she would be able to keep her promise.

"Of course Ange, what are friends for, right? How long are they staying for anyways?" Bella was not sure that she wanted to have a hot shot baseball player hanging around camp but at least it would make for a good story to tell her mom.

"Almost the whole summer. They leave after the first day of the last week of camp." Angela had flown through the paperwork and was now up and dragging Bella towards the dining hall.

"Then that means we've got all summer to get his attentions. By August he'll be half in love with you if not already there." Bella said.

"Thanks Bella! You're the best and if you ever need my help trying to get a boy's attention, just let me know!" Angela squealed.

"Thanks Ange but I think I'm good on the boys front. Let's just get through the week with the Denali sisters before we even think about them."

"Alright well, if you ever need to talk about them then just know that I'm here for you." Angela linked her arm with Bella's and together they strolled into the empty dining room.

_That_, Bella thought_, is absolutely never going to happen._


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Still in the busy time period but the stressful part is over. I'll try to update quicker next time. Have at 'er!**

On the fourth day of camp, Bella woke to silence. But it was not the silence that woke her; it was the absence of whatever had been there before. The silence persisted but Bella could not shake the feeling that something was wrong, and so she silently swung her legs over the bed and crept around the room.

A quick glance outside told her that the morning wake up calls, usually in the form of the coordinators as some type of band, would be coming any moment now, if they had not started already. Moving stealthily around the cabin Bella checked on each of the girls; they were all sleeping soundly.

Frustrated and too awake to go back to sleep Bella went into the bathroom to splash some water on her face. She was just examining her reflection in the mirror when she heard the noise again. Bella crept back into the room and was startled by a movement to her left.

On the bunk above hers the blankets were moving and Bella nearly fell over when Angela rolled over and let out a moan. The blankets began to move in a rhythmic pattern and Bella's face went red as a poppy as she realized what was happening.

"Oh," Angela drew out the sound and her breathing hitched as she rolled away again. Bella had lived with a roommate her first year at university, so it was not as if she had never experienced this before. In the past she had just tucked her pillow over her head and ran through song lyrics in her head until it was over. However, with campers in the room Bella did not exactly have that luxury, and instead had to confront the situation, thereby embarrassing both her and Angela.

"Angela!" Bella hissed as she rushed over and began prodding the girl's shoulder, "Wake up! Wake up!" After several hard prods Angela swatted away Bella's hand and groggily opened her eyes.

"Whazzup?" The word fought its way out of her mouth.

"Were you...? Was that...? Did you just have a _sex dream _about the baseball manager? While there are _kids_ in the room?" Bella hissed, completely unsure whether to be mortified or angry.

"I, err...I mean it...maybe?" Angela stuttered out, going redder than Bella, which was quite a feat.

"_Angela!"_ Bella whisper yelled, "Go shower right now. And don't even think about...you know. Just go get ready." Bella turned to gather her own clothes for the day and waited until the bathroom door had closed before releasing the breath she had been holding.

Angela may have been the one who got caught, but she was not the only one who has having less than pure dreams about a guy this week.

In the corner of the small alcove where the counsellor beds were housed, Angela and Bella had erected a small changing room by hanging towels between the bed and the lockers. Standing in the small space both girls could see over the top of the towel, though Bella had more difficulty than her tall roommate, and keep an eye on their charges while changing. Usually Bella was up before Angela and was able to change in the bathroom but today she had to brave the makeshift space and hope that she would not fall over and bring the towel down like she had the first time she used it.

Luckily this morning Bella managed to pull on a pair of shorts that used to be jeans, cinching the waist tight, and an odd floating top, another of her mother's gifts, over her sports bra without any tumbles. She was just pushing her feet into her socks when the noise of terribly played oriental instruments floated through the cabin. After several tortured bars the cabin door popped open and one of the female coordinators' heads appeared through the frame.

"Wakey wakey girls! Today is going to be a lovely day and we don't want to miss any of it! See you at breakfast!" The last syllable was prolonged as the head disappeared and the band marched away, off to torture the ears of another cabin.

"Mom says that Chinese people have eyes like this and that's why they're such bad drivers." Irina used her fingers to pull the edges of her eyes back until they were just little slits.

"Irina, we don't say things like that. When you say things like that it is racist and very hurtful to some people." Bella gently admonished the girl. Irina dropped her hands, looked up at Bella and promptly burst into tears. Bella sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose; she could feel the headache that had been almost constant this week returning.

"Come on girls. Time to get up and dressed. Look! Bella and I are both in green; do you girls want to match us too?" Angela came out of the bathroom just in time and soon had their campers getting up and ready for the day.

The day passed as the previous three had; crying and breakfast, tantrums and arts and crafts, sobs and swimming after lunch and finally a complete meltdown right before dinner. The only highlight of the day was when Maria swung her doll too hard, hit herself in the eye and convinced herself that she was going blind. Bella had a blissful ten minutes to herself while Rosalie, the camp nurse, checked out the patient, who was completely fine. By dinner time Bella was ready for the week to be over and was questioning whether or not she would make it through the rest of the summer.

"Now as we all know, tonight is our last night here at camp, and do you know what that means?" A coordinator in a silly hat and face paint asked the assembled camp at dinner.

"Talent show!" The entire room chorused back, causing Kate to burst into tears and run out of the dining hall. Angela, who was trying to keep Tanya from biting Kristie's arm each time she reached for more carrots, which she would take one at a time, shot Bella a sympathetic look. They had been taking turns running after Kate and although it was Angela's turn Bella would have to do it this time. That meant she would miss both lunch and dinner. Angela made a mental note to bring her a snack later on.

"Kate! Come on, it's okay." Bella raced after the girl, who for having shorter legs was surprisingly fast. Bella finally caught up with her under the apple tree by the trampolines. Kate had sat down and was picking grass as if she had not a single care in the world.

"Loud." Kate darted a glance at Bella.

"I know sweetie. It was a bit loud in there for me too. Here, I snagged this earlier on. Why don't you eat this and then we'll go back inside?" Bella handed over the granola bar that she had meant to eat after missing lunch but never had the chance. Her stomach grumbled in protest but the granola bar was already halfway disappeared into Kate's mouth so there was nothing that could be done about it now.

"Yum." Kate gobbled the granola bar up, even licking the crumbs from the wrapper.

"Yeah, chocolate chip is my favourite too. Are you ready to go back inside now? I bet it's a bit quieter now." The bugs were starting to come out and Bella wanted to get back inside before both of them were eaten alive.

"Bounce?" Kate looked hopefully at the trampoline. Bella weighed the pros and cons of letting the girl bounce but decided that it would not be worth the hassle when her sisters discovered that Kate had been on the trampoline without them. Plus Kate would expect Bella to bounce her and she did not have the energy to do that right then.

"Maybe later Kate, I think we should go back inside now. It's the talent show tonight. Don't you want to see Tanya sing?" Tanya had been working on a rendition of Beyoncé's 'If I Were a Boy' all week and was very excited to perform it. Bella was interested in seeing some of the other campers' talents; Alice had told her that some of them were very talented and amusing, especially Frank's stand up comedy act.

"Okay." Bella was not sure where the one word sentences had come from, but to be honest she was not complaining. The girls got up and brushed the stray pieces of grass of their pants. Kate did it with much more force and bum wiggling than necessary, causing Bella to break down in giggles and Kate to give her the sweetest smile, reminding Bella of why she had chosen this job in the first place.

"Have you heard Tanya sing before? Is she really good?" Bella asked as they swung their linked arms between them.

"Yes. Like a bird." Kate took her arm back and began flapping them like a bird, flying around Bella in circles. Bella laughed and began flapping her own wings, making cawing noises all the way to the arts and crafts building where a stage had been set up earlier that day.

"Bella! There you are." Angela stuck her head out of the door, interrupting Bella mid-caw. Kate kept going, making her own cawing noises all the way into the building to rejoin her sisters. "She didn't go far, did she?"

"Nah, we sat by the apple tree. I gave her a granola bar that I had been saving but she might be hungry later." Bella tried to ignore the painful pinch of hunger in her belly as she thought of her original plans for the granola bar.

"Great, we've got a bit of a bigger problem right now."

"Is Irina chasing after Jack again? I told Riley to keep the groups away from each other." Bella groaned at the thought of having to separate the two again. On the first day Irina had decided that they were dating and constantly chased after Jack, who did not really understand what she wanted but enjoyed hugging her none the less.

"Uh no, but I'll keep an eye out for that during the dance later. Claire had a bit of an accident and she won't come out of the bathroom. Do you think you could take her back to the cabin to change? I'd do it but Kristie hasn't left my side since dinner and I don't think I could get away without taking her too." Angela looked frazzled, and Bella imagined that she looked a similar way. Angela was right at the beginning of the week when she said they were going to have their hands full.

"Yeah, okay. Could you keep people away from the bathroom while I try to talk her out? No one wants an audience for something like that." Bella felt slightly guilty about it, but Claire was her favourite camper this week. She was the sweetest girl Bella had ever met and did not cause any drama like the other girls in the group. In her file it said that she struggled with wetting the bed, and Bella's heart had nearly broken when the little girl woke her up on the first morning in tears because she had had an accident. Luckily after Bella had reassured her, changed the sheets, given her a piece of emergency chocolate and had a heart to heart over missing home Claire had been doing much better and had not had another incident until now.

"Claire? Sweetie, it's Bella. Do you think that I could come in?" Bella knocked softly on the door and pressed her ear against it, hearing the soft sobs of the girl inside.

"Uh uh!" Bella could almost see Claire vehemently shaking her head.

"It's just me out here. You don't even have to open the door. Just unlock it and I'll slip right in and we can fix this together." Bella looked around to ensure that Angela had indeed kept people away from the entrance to the bathrooms.

The sniffling stopped and feet pattered towards the door. The lock clicked open, almost inaudible over the sounds of Claire scampering away. Bella took one more look around before sneaking through the frame and snapping the lock shut behind her.

In the corner of the bathroom was a shower stall, and given that Bella could not see Claire she was probably hiding in there. Two steps into the room revealed this to be true and Bella's heart clenched seeing the tear tracks on her face and the dark stain on her pink trousers.

"Hi sweetheart." Bella cooed softly, nearly falling over when Claire launched out of the shower to wrap her arms around Bella's waist and sob into her shirt. Bella squeezed the girl tight and stroked her hair until the cries subsided.

"I know, darling, I know. Do you want to tell me what happened?" Claire shook her head against Bella's stomach.

"Okay, well do you want to go back to the cabin and change? Or do you want me to bring you some clothes and you can change in here?" The pain of choosing between the evils was plain as day on Claire's face as a crease appeared between her brows and her lip began to tremble.

"Cabin." Claire pulled on Bella's sweatshirt until she could whisper the word into her ear. Bella's mind kicked into action, trying to figure out how she could get Claire past everyone in the building without them noticing anything. Or at least, without Claire realizing that anyone had noticed anything.

"Alright. Here, tie this around your waist and I'll walk behind you, and that way no one will see anything." Bella pulled off her sweater and shivered as goose bumps rose in reaction to the cool air. Claire tied it around her waist as instructed. Bella was glad that half the campers were in ridiculous dress up costumes and would not take a second look at a girl with a sweater tied like an apron.

Humming the mission impossible theme song, which made Claire giggle, Bella stuck her head out the door and looked around. Catching Angela's eye Bella sent her a look which she hoped said 'keep everyone's attention diverted while we sneak out.' Bella brought her head back in and turned to Clair with her hands held together to form a gun.

"Agent Claire. Are you ready for your mission? You must go to cabin three, change your clothes and return to the talent show. Do you accept?" Claire nodded, the smile on her face blinding. Bella helped her to make her own hand gun before going back to humming.

Together they snuck out of the bathroom and out of the arts and crafts building, clinging to walls along the way. Bella grabbed Claire's hand and they dashed across the open field to the cabins, with Claire's infectious giggle as their soundtrack.

The wet trousers were soon replaced with a soft grey cotton pair, rinsed in the sink and tossed over the bathroom stall to dry. Bella's unfortunately wet sweater was replaced by an itchy and lumpy one that Charlie's mother had tried to knit but ended up just piecing together a bunch of knitted squares into a sweater like shape. Unfashionable but warm.

The grass was wet and clung to their ankles. The light had disappeared quickly and the colourful Christmas lights strung around the door to the arts and crafts building promised warmth within. The heavy beats of a song and the mumbling whisper of rap could be heard across the camp. Bella winced as she imagined what her ears were in for over the next few hours.

Claire broke away from Bella as they got nearer to the building, running ahead in excitement. She paused, though, just before the door, turned around and threw her arms around Bella's middle.

"Thanks Bella. You made me happy." One last squeeze and she was off again, running into the building to join her friends. Bella took a moment to get her emotions under control, but she could not keep the large smile from her face as she rejoined the rest of the campers.

In front of the stage there was a dance floor, and all of the campers were up there shaking and jumping and having a good time. On the stage a camper and a counsellor sung a duet from Disney together, costumes and everything. At the back of the room was a snacks table, for which Bella made a beeline. However, three steps away she was intercepted.

"Bella! Another problem. I don't –" Angela cut off Bella's view of bowls of potato chips and fruit and granola bars.

"Why is it that everyone always has problems that they need me to deal with? Why can't it just be me for once that has the problem! Figure out your own lives!" Bella hissed at Angela but immediately felt her heart sink as Angela's face crumpled.

"Shoot, sorry Ange; I'm just really cranky because I haven't eaten. Can we grab snacks first?"

"Sorry Bella, I have kind of been dumping my problems on you today. But you know that if you ever do have a problem you can come to me right?" Bella waved off the apology and nodded to the question, all while stuffing as much fruit and granola bars into her mouth as possible.

"I hope I never have problems. Anyways, what's up?" Bella asked between bites.

"You know how I was supposed to play near the end of this?"

"Yeah, Flight of the Bumblebee, right? You're crazy good at it."

"Well, I don't think I can do it anymore."

"What? Why not? You spend the entire training period practicing it. Plus you already told the girls and they're super excited." As if to punctuate Bella's statement Maria ran up to the snack table, crammed a handful of chips into her mouth, told Angela she couldn't wait for her performance and ran away.

"I know but," Angela leaned in closer and whispered, "the manager is here! I just saw him." Bella knew better to say 'and' to Angela's big news so she just raised an eyebrow until Angela continued.

"I can't play in front of him! What if I mess up? What if I'm terrible?"

"What if you're not? You spent weeks practicing this; you could play it in your sleep. You're going to go up there, play it, knock everyone's socks off and he is going to be super impressed. And, by the end of the night, you're going to find out his name. You are a beautiful, confident and talented woman and he is going to see that." Angela nodded after each statement and Bella could see her stand up straighter and grow with confidence.

"Thanks Bella. Sorry that you had to deal with so much today."

"No problem. Now that I have food I'm ready to take on whatever you throw at me." Bella peeled a banana and was just putting it into her mouth when a movement in the corner caught her eye.

There, half hidden behind a giant painting of a tree was Edward, the green-eyed man from the bar. Bella thought she was hallucinating, probably from hunger, so she blinked her eyes several times but each time they reopened he was still standing there. Bella looked away and looked back again, but this time he was staring straight back at her.

That's when Bella realized she still had the banana in her mouth.

"Uh, Angela? Remember what you said thirty seconds ago?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I have a problem."


	4. Chapter 4

"Bye! I'm going to miss you! Enjoy your summer!" Bella stood in the crowd of counsellors, waving as the last of the campers, the Denali's, drove away at the end of the week. The car had hardly reached the end of the drive but already the shadows in the rear window could be seen flailing their arms in argument.

"Alright ladies and gents! Time to clean up the site and then the first round at Southern Comfort is on us!" One of the coordinators, whose names Bella still had not learnt, shouted. A voice from the crowd replied that the second round was on Edward. His silken laugh rippled through the crowd as he agreed, sending shivers down Bella's spine.

"As long as someone shows me to the showers that's fine with me. What did you guys put in those water balloons anyways?" The crowds parted like the sea, allowing Bella to get a glimpse of the man drenched in concentrated Kool-Aid and cornstarch.

Earlier in the day, after Edward threw a couple of baseballs, hit a few pitches and signed just about every piece of paper in the camp the campers decided that they all wanted to play catch with him. At the same time. Armed with water balloons lovingly provided by the counsellors they chased him across the site lobbing missile after missile until he was covered head to toe and their smiles were bright as the sun.

At first Bella thought that it served him right to get bombarded with balloons after showing up at her place of work, though logically she knew she had no right to be angry at all. But then she saw how he was ducking and weaving about so that he found himself hit by more balloons than not, and her heart melted a little. That, of course, was followed by steeling herself against him and deciding to remain resolute in her plan to avoid him all summer.

Last night it was easy in the mix of all the campers to slip away from him each time it looked as if he was making his way towards her, and when the Denali sisters all simultaneously claimed that they were exhausted and had to go to bed _right now_ Bella had volunteered and hidden away in the cabin for the remainder of the evening.

By the time Angela had made it back to the cabin with Kristie, who seemed determined to dance until dawn, Bella had been too tired to explain the problem to her, promising to do it tomorrow as she fell asleep. Angela thought it could not be that big of a problem if Bella was able to fall asleep so easily but her curiosity was definitely piqued.

"Hey, I checked and we're both on cleaning up the cabins. Just wipe down the mattresses, sweep and check for any lost items. And while we're doing that, you can tell me about this problem you have."Angela linked arms with Bella and pulled her out of site just as Edward made a sweep of the crowd with his eyes. He could swear that they were playing tricks on him because there were times that he thought he could see Red but she seemed to disappear into thin air whenever he focussed his eyes. Edward put it out of his head; it would wait until he had cleaned himself up.

Bella and Angela started in their own cabin and intended to move down the numbers while the other pair started at the highest number and worked their way down to three. Bella had hardly made it through the door before Angela was asking questions left, right and centre, hardly allowing her to get a word in edgewise.

"You do know that if you don't give me a chance to answer anything then you're never going to find out what happened, right?" Bella grabbed the broom and begun in the bathroom.

"Okay, okay, just talk and I promise I won't interrupt," Bella gave her a look, "okay I won't interrupt a lot. Just start."

Bella started on her story, beginning with how she had never had a boyfriend and had never felt the need to have one, that she had kissed boys but nothing more than brief and chaste stolen moments that did not do anything for her. They finished up the first cabin and as they began on the second she continued with Alice's statement during training and how that led to consuming copious amounts of alcohol and then the unfortunate encounter with Edward and how she thought he was not from around here. Bella finished her story on the walk to the last cabin, ending with a wince as she remembered the shirt still stuffed underneath her bunk.

"Wait, so what's your problem again?"

"What?"

"What's your problem? I don't see what the big deal is." Bella stared at her friend as they walked into the cabin.

"My problem? My problem is that the first time I met this guy I gave him a hand job and now I learn that he's going to be at my place of work all summer. Oh and when he saw me last night it looked like I was deep throating a banana. Do you seriously not see the issue with all this?"

"Whoa, you did what?" Alice emerged from the bathroom drying her hands on her shirt and Bella wanted to be swallowed up by the earth.

"Bella's a virgin. She got drunk to see a guy's penis and ended up giving Edward a hand job and now she's worried about seeing him all summer."

"Please tell me I'm sleeping and we're not actually having this conversation." Bella closed her eyes and pinched her arm to no avail.

"Tough luck Bumble Bee, this is as real as it gets. This place breeds drama and every year there's something. Usually sexual although one year there was this terrible nurse who was taking some of the kids' meds and selling them."

"So you mean I'm doomed and the whole camp is going to find out about this?" Bella groaned and dropped face first onto a bed, luckily one that had not been bleached yet.

"Well no, not if you're careful. But there are usually always a few people," Alice gestured to herself and Angela, "who know about the drama." Bella groaned into the mattress.

"To be fair, from what I've heard your problem isn't really that big compared to what's happened some years."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Okay," Angela interjected, "let's finish this cabin up and go have a drink. I get the feeling that Bella wanted one ten minutes ago and you're going to need one if you're gonna talk about last year." Angela patted Bella on the arm and started on the beds. Alice pulled the broom out of Bella's hand and in a flash she was whirling around the room sweeping although it looked more like a dance than anything else.

To be honest, Bella did not really contribute that much towards the effort of cleaning the cabin. Alice was a force of nature and when that combined with Angela's practiced hand the whole building was done in less time than Bella thought possible. All too soon the girls had her by the arms and were following the rest of the staff down the street to the bar.

"Okay when we get there Bella you're getting drinks and Angela you cover me while I find us a table outside. He–the bar should have put them out by now as the weather has been really great." Alice seemed to lose a big of pep from her step as they neared the bar and it shook Bella out of her misery long enough to wonder why.

"Why do you need cover to find a table?" Bella asked only to be met with an uncomfortable silence until Angela chimed in.

"It's the drama from last year. Just get us three drinks and three shots to start us off and we'll explain everything." Angela pushed Bella lightly towards the door. Still confused she complied with the order.

"Oh hey! You're back. Congrats on finishing your first week! By the way, how did that liquid courage work out last time?" The grin was a painful reminder that he had seen Bella at her almost lowest.

"Ugh. Don't remind me. You should have cut me off before I did anything stupid." Bella grimaced.

"Did you do something stupid?" The jukebox started a new, upbeat song and he had to lean in closer for Bella to be able to hear him.

"I don't want to talk about it. In fact, I'd rather forget that Wednesday ever happened. Which is why I'm back in here and I'd like three tequila sunrises and three shots of tequila." Bella pulled out some money but he waved her away.

"First round is on me. Consider that my apology for whatever stupid thing happened the last time I gave you tequila." He quickly set to work mixing their drink and pouring the shots.

"Oh, wow! Thanks...I don't know your name. I'm Bella by the way."

"Jasper. Jasper Whitlock at your service ma'am." He grabbed her proffered hand and smoothly brought it to his lips. Bella blushed and then wondered if maybe she should have asked him to drop his pants last week.

"Well, thanks Jasper, but at least let me pay for the ones that are for my friends. It can't be good for business to give away too many free drinks." Bella held out the money one more time but Jasper only laughed.

"Darlin', when you're offered free drinks you smile and graciously accept. Besides, having pretty girls like you in my bar _is_ good for business. Let me know when you need a refill." He winked and Bella blushed as he left to serve another patron. She pushed some money into the tip jar and left.

With only minimal spillage, Bella carefully made her way outside where she quickly found her friends sitting at a table in the corner. Bella noticed as she drew nearer that Alice was practically hidden by the overhanging branches of a tree and wondered just what drama had happened the previous year.

"Here we are, and they were on the house so enjoy them." The shots were distributed and quickly knocked back. It was only after that Bella realized she had forgotten to get any lemon and they all took a sip of their drinks to dull the bite of the liquor.

"Oh the house, huh? How did you manage that one?" Bella thought she detected a hint of bitterness in Alice's tone and wished they would just explain already.

"Jasper said he felt bad about what his alcohol caused me to do last time so the first round was free. I tried to pay for your drinks but he wouldn't let me." Bella shrugged; both of her friends would classically be considered prettier than her so she was sure they had been given free drinks at some point or another.

"Did Jasper say anything else?" Alice squeaked out.

"To come see him if we need refills? Should he have said anything else?"

"No it's just," Alice paused to take a large swallow of her drink, "Jasper is part of what happened last year."

"Okay?" Bella was confused, but Angela was too distracted looking for the manager to pay attention to her friends.

"I'm only going to say this once so no interrupting and listen up. Last year Jasper and I were kind of a thing. We hadn't really talked about it or anything but I think both of us knew that it was serious, or at least could have been. About midway through the summer he was talking to a guy at the bar about how much he loved owning the bar and how he wanted to settle down and have kids soon because he's a bit older, you know? Anyways, I just heard that and I kind of freaked because I wasn't ready to move away from the city and live here for the rest of my life. I was only twenty-two and I didn't have a career yet and do you know how hard it would have been to start up a clothing line in this town? And kids, I was definitely not ready for kids, maybe in a couple years I will be but last summer I panicked and I slept with another counsellor and made sure that Jasper heard about it." Alice downed the rest of her drink before finishing off Bella's as well.

"Oh wow, that's –"

"Stupid? Heartless? Cruel? Trust me I've called myself all of them and more. I was so stupid and I screwed up something that could have been really great. Do you know I haven't even been with anyone since the counsellor last year? I just feel so guilty even thinking about it." Alice looked like she was about to burst into tears. Bella quickly shoved some napkins at her friend because she was not good with dealing with crying people.

"I was going to say unexpected. Did you even talk to Jasper? He seems like a great guy and he probably would have at least considered moving to a city with you. I'm sure he could have opened a bar there." Alice blinked at Bella and then began sobbing. Angela finally tuned into the conversation and began rubbing Alice's back. Bella quickly excused herself to go get another round.

"Back already?" Jasper asked as Bella returned the empty shot glasses.

"More alcohol. Please." Bella was still trying to wrap her mind around the idea of Alice, sweet little Alice, hurting the equally sweet Jasper.

"Haven't had enough to forget yet?" Bella hummed distractedly, and had to ask Jasper to repeat the question.

"Oh, no to be honest I just left the table because of the crying. I'm no good at handling crying people."

Jasper grimaces, "me neither sweetheart." The bar was significantly busier, so Bella quickly handed over the cash and grabbed the second round – simple screwdrivers this time – before heading back to the table.

By the time the drinks were set down on the table Alice looked as composed as she had been before they entered the bar. The only giveaway was the slight pink rim around her eyes and her wobbly smile.

"Alright. Enough about me. Let's hear your story."

For the second time that day Bella repeated the disastrous events of the last time she had come to the bar. This retelling, however, was punctuated with more questions, mostly from Alice, which Bella took the time to answer.

Yes, she had had a boyfriend before. No, she was still a virgin. Yes, she took the mandatory sexual education class in high school. No, she did not ask Jasper before Edward. She could not remember how many shots were needed to get her drunk enough to ask. No she had not recognized him. Why should she?

"Do you live under a rock? That man's face is plastered over just about everything just about everywhere across the USA. How have you not seen him?"

"I dunno. I just haven't. But that's not even the worst part." Bella continued her story, pausing to pat Alice on the back when she began choking on her drink at the onset of the hand job. Luckily Angela jumped in to finish the story.

"And then she thought that was the last of it until last night she saw him again at the talent show right after she had put a banana in her mouth. Bella thought he was one of the weekly volunteers until the coordinators announced him, at which point she spent the rest of the night hiding until she went back to the cabin." Angela took too much pleasure in telling the tales of her misfortune, Bella thought.

"Okay, so what's the problem? You just go up and introduce yourself to him and bam! Hot baseball playing boyfriend. Or at least hot baseball playing summer hook-up." Angela and Alice clinked their glasses together at that.

"Are you serious? There's no way I'll ever be able to face him again after what I did. Plus he probably has some pretty skewed ideas of me by that first impression."

"So what? He can get to know the real you."

"The real me doesn't want a relationship. I just want to have a fun, uncomplicated summer before I return to studying to death." Bella was stubborn, a trait that must have come from her father, and was determined to keep her head buried in the sand, even if the rest of her body got hit.

What else are you going to do? Avoid him all summer? You are, aren't you?" A slightly guilty look graced Bella's face and incredulous ones the faces of her friends.

" Well yeah. I just have to get through the summer. And then I'll go back to Stanford and he'll go back to wherever he came from and we never have to see each other again." Bella nodded at her plan. She could avoid Edward for two months, right?

"Bella, you know that he's a giant, right?" Alice asked, slowly.

"A giant what?" Bella blushed red at the first thought that had popped into her head.

"Wow, you seriously do live under a rock, don't you? The San Francisco Giants? The baseball team? None of this is ringing a bell?" Bella just stared blankly as Alice kept talking.

"Wait, aren't the giants from New York?"

"Are you only saying that because we watched Madagascar this week for movie night?" Angela butted in.

"Maybe?"

"The New York Giants are a football team. Their baseball team is the Yankees." Alice shook her head and downed her drink, as if she could not believe how Bella could be intelligent enough to go to one of the top ten schools in the country but not know anything about pop culture.

"So you're saying that I'm screwed?"

"One hundred percent." Bella groaned and dropped her head on to the table, trying to ignore her friends' laughter.

_Shit._


End file.
